Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Seize the Moment

Did you watch any of the U.S. Open on Sunday? It usually winds up on Father's Day, and it has the potential to always be some great finish. This one was no different. Jordan Speith, who also won The Masters this year, finished at five under par, and then had to wait and watch as the next group finished to see whether he had won or not.

The day did not end well for Dustin Johnson, who could have won or forced a playoff with two missed putts and ended up tying for second. Compound that with the constant reminders from the announcers that Johnson disqualified himself a couple of years ago when he was chasing another U.S. Open victory, and it just doesn't seem like this is his tournament.

So while there is a lot that could be said metaphorically about Speith's win or Johnson's defeat, I have a much more direct observation, and it came from an email I received today. A national golf retailer emailed me an ad to buy the same clothes that Jordan Speith had worn on Saturday and Sunday. Teaming up with UnderArmour, they had already prepped the outfits and marketing to be ready to go to sell to a group of fans that were ready to buy.

Given that there were at least three players in contention to win, I have to wonder how much prep and negotiating went into that ad. How many contingency emails were ready to send? Would I have received ads trying to sell me Dustin Johnson's shirt Monday morning if he had made one of those two putts? However much went into it, I have to give a hand to the marketing team that worked over the weekend to be ready to press "send" on Monday morning. Because I guarantee after watching Jordan Speith play all day, someone was wondering, "I wonder where I can get that shirt? Or that hat?" And Monday morning, the answer was given to them.

How can you seize the moment for your target market? What are they already thinking about and what questions do they have that you can answer?